Early voting to start Monday

October 17, 2008|Posted by Scott Wyman at 1:54 PM

The wait will soon be over for those anxiously wanting to cast their vote for Barack Obama or John McCain.

Early voting for the Nov. 4 election begins Monday at 17 locations in Broward County and 11 locations in Palm Beach County. More than 400,000 residents in the two counties are expected to vote in the next two weeks either by absentee ballot or at the early voting locations.

Both presidential campaigns as well as local candidates are gearing up to get people out to vote early. Phone calls, fliers and e-mail are going out with reminders, and plans are under way for early-vote rallies and marches to the polls.

Campaign advisers and election administrators are encouraging early voting because of the high turnout expected this year. They predict 70 to 80 percent of the 1.8 million registered voters in the two counties will cast ballots, a turnout not seen since the early 1990s.

?Bad economic times tend to increase voter turnout,? said Kevin Hill, a political science professor at Florida International University. ?This is a wide open race with no incumbent, and that also increases interest and turnout.?

In an addition to the presidential race, voters will be electing members of Congress, the state Legislature and local offices. There are also numerous state and local referendums including a question on changing the state constitution to ban gay marriage.

Registered voters can go to any of the locations in their county to vote early, unlike Election Day, when people must vote at their designated precinct. The early voting sites in both counties will open at 10 a.m. Monday. Voters also can still request absentee ballots through Oct. 29.

Because of its convenience, voters have increasingly turned to early voting since it started as an experiment in 2002. But election officials warn there will be lines, particularly the weekend before Election Day. Still, lines will likely be even longer on Nov. 4 when 1 million people are expected to vote in Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Election officials said that people can ensure voting at the early voting sites goes fast if they fill out a sample ballot beforehand to copy from and if they resolve any questions about their registration in advance, such as updating their address. Voters also must remember to bring photo identification that has their signature.